Conservation
Oyster Restoration
Oyster reefs are vital in maintaining the Galveston Bay ecosystem. Reefs provide habitat for bottom-dwelling fish and invertebrates which attract larger game fish. Reefs also stabilize the bay bottom and break wave energy, preventing shoreline erosion. Oysters act as a natural filtration system; they filter silt and contaminants from the water. A single oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water per day! A large, healthy oyster population filters large volumes of water and thereby improves local water quality and clarity.
Galveston Bay's oyster reefs were hit particularly hard during Hurricane Ike in 2008--the storm deposited a layer of sediments and debris atop the bay bottom, smothering live oysters. Nearly 60 percent of the oyster reef habitat in Galveston Bay, and 80 percent of East Bay's oyster population was destroyed. The oyster reefs have still not recovered. Since then, a number of efforts have been launched to restore Galveston Bay's oyster reefs--including projects lead by Texas Parks and Wildlife (TPWD) and the Galveston Bay Foundation. Watch TPWD's video on Galveston Bay oyster restoration efforts.
GBF's Community-Based Oyster Restoration is Back!
Galveston Bay Foundation (GBF) is building upon our past oyster reef restoration efforts in light of the devastation from Hurricane Ike. Since 2009, GBF has been working with TPWD and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to restore reefs. And in 2010, GBF secured funding for two community-based oyster restoration efforts, a grant from the Texas Coastal Management Program and a grant from Restore America's Estuaries. Our focus is community-based efforts to restore oyster reefs on the western shoreline of Galveston Bay. To do so, GBF will be calling on local citizens to participate in oyster restoration with oyster gardening as a main component. Interested in volunteering?
What is Oyster Gardening?
Volunteers compile bags of reclaimed oyster shell for local pier owners to hang off their piers for the oyster gardening process. Volunteers and pier owners monitor the growth of young oysters, called spat, which attach to the shells inside the oyster gardening bags. The bags provide a controlled environment for young oysters to develop, since they are competing with other organisms in the bay for a home on the shell. After a few months of development, the oysters are removed from the piers and their bags, and they are distributed across artificially-constructed reef pads nearby where they will flourish as part of a restored oyster reef. NOTE: Oysters produced in GBF's oyster gardening programs are not for consumption; they are only for ecosystem services such as water quality, habitat creation, and shoreline protection.
 Reused shell |
 Bagging shell |
 Hanging bags |
 Monitoring oyster spat |
Current Projects: San Leon and Kemah
GBF currently has two efforts for community-based oyster restoration, one in the San Leon community and one in the Kemah area. Volunteers are needed in 2011 for both projects. Interested volunteers will help with "behind the scenes" prepwork for the projects and, most importantly, will be our oyster gardeners off local San Leon and Kemah piers. If you would like to help us in our oyster restoration projects, as a pier owner or volunteer, please contact Tiffany Anders, GBF's Conservation Technician, at tanders@galvbay.org.
Oyster Shell Recycling Program
Oyster shell is a resource for a sustainable oyster population, because oysters grow on other oyster shells! As oysters are harvested from our Bay, that hard substrate is being taken away. Oyster shells can be recycled from restaurants serving oysters and put back in the Bay. By doing so, there will be more hard surface areas that oyster larvae need for settlement and development. Please see our Oyster Shell Recycling page for more information on the process!
Resources
Oyster Information (TPWD)
Practitioner's Guide to Shellfish Restoration (.pdf) (Nature Conservancy)
In the news: Houston Chronicle
In the news: 88.7 KUHF News
Project Partners
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